Creating Your Own Family
by faithkathleen
Summary: Peter and Gabby have been best friends forever. She knows about his nightly activities and does all she can to help. Enter Tony Stark who now feels responsible for two teens. This story follows their friendship and Gabby's attempts to create her family when her own family has fallen apart. Father troubles are nothing when you have great friends and a new mentor to help. Peter/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! So I watched Infinity Wars and I'm just going to pretend that it never happened! This story takes place after Civil War, but before Homecoming. It's about my OC (Gabrielle) who's Peter's best and oldest friend. I have a vague idea of where this is** **going** **so hopefully the updates will be quicker than they are in my other stories! Please read and review!**

"Peter."

"Gabby."

"Peter."

"I'm not playing Battleship with you," Peter huffs at Gabby, "I always lose."

"It's not my fault you suck at Battleship!" Gabby responds,"Aren't you supposed to be the smart one. Especially considering you're a superhero?"

"That has nothing to do with it," Peter replies trying to suppress a smile while he bickers with his oldest friend.

"Okay then. We don't have to play as long as you admit that I'm the superior battleship player for eternity!" Gabby smirks as he flounders not wanting to admit his eternal defeat.

"Fine, although I am physically better than you and I'm a legit superhero, you are eternally the superior battleship player. Satisfied?"

"Never," Gabby replies with a smug grin, "But I suppose that'll do for now."

They sit in comfortable silence on Peter's couch. Gabby slowly closes her eyes while Peter texts Tony Stark on his phone.

"Who you texting?" Gabby asks.

"Mr. Stark."

"Oh, you going on a top secret mission like Germany?"

"Um you aren't supposed to know about that Gabs," Peter says slightly confused.

"Yeah, but you were so excited and since I was the only who knew about your furry persona at the time you literally ranted to me for about 3 hours straight."

"But I never said where I was," Peter defended himself.

"There's this thing called the news," Gabby replies sarcastically, "You should read it sometimes."

Peter merely throws a pillow at her. For a second she looks shocked, but A mischievous smile breaks out on her face. She quickly retaliates and throws the same pillow back at his face. Soon they were in a full out pillow war, until they both heard May come in the front door. The froze looking at the slight mess they made in the middle of their impromptu pillow fight and quickly dashed to hide some of the mess so it wouldn't look too terrible to Aunt May.

"I'm home," May calls out looking at the two teens suspiciously smiling like angels, "Hello you two, nice to see you Gabby. You both didn't make too much of a mess while I was gone did you?"

"Oh no. Absolutely not, Aunt May you know me. I wouldn't never make a mess of your living room. I always make sure to clean up and-"

"No Mrs. Parker," Gabby interrupts Peter's rambling.

"Oh please Gabby, how many times do I have to ask you to call me May," She asks with a slight tint of exasperation in her voice, but mostly poking fun at the teen.

"Apparently one more time Mrs. Parker," Gabby grinned.

Peter smiles at their interaction and checks his phone, "Sorry ladies, but I've got to meet Mr. Stark for my internship. We have a few new ideas to discuss."

"Peter," May says, "You promised we could have dinner together tonight. We haven't in a while because of your nightly activities."

"But Aunt May," Peter whines.

"No buts. I specifically took off work so we could have dinner together and Gabby is here. I'm sure she would love to have a nice dinner with _you here,_ " Aunt May smiles slyly knowing Peter's huge crush on her that he's had for a few years now.

"It's okay Peter," Gabby chimes in, "If you don't want to stay you don't have to for me. I don't want to burden you guys in any way. You've done so much to help me."

"Peter," Aunt May says warningly with a strict tone in her voice.

"Let me call Mr. Stark," Peter says in defeat, but then adds on in a more chipper voice, "I'm sure whatever this is it can totally wait!"

Peter leaves the room to call Tony and tell him that he can't come over today because he's having a family dinner.

"Thank you Mrs. May," Gabby says quietly.

"Oh no problem dear," May responds sweetly, "How are things at home?"

"Um," she pauses looking down and May looks at her concerned, "Same as always I guess. It's not any worse so I'm not complaining, but it's not any better either."

"Has your dad," May trails off not knowing how to finish her question.

"He's," Gabby takes in a shaky breath, "he's still drinking if that's your question, but he's paying less attention to me so that's good."

"Just remember you just have to say the word and I'll take him to court. You know I have no problem fighting this bastard," May says with conviction.  
"I can't," she responds, "I really want to, but I just can't risk him getting off. It's a slippery slope, but at least I have you and Peter. I truly don't know what I'd do without you," she finishes with a single tear dripping down her cheek.

Aunt May notices this, rushes over to wipe her tear away, gives her a small hug, and a kiss on the top of her head.

"I'm going to use the bathroom real quick," with that Gabby rushes out of the room to the bathroom. Peter comes in with a furrowed brow as Gabby runs out.

"Is she okay?" he asks concern lacing his words.

"It's her dad," they both sigh wishing they could make things better for her, "She said he's still drinking, but isn't paying much attention to her. I swear to god I'm going to kill that man if he ever dares lay a hand on her. This damn emotional abuse and neglect is so unfair to her. She's just so sweet," Aunt May trails off a few tears dripping down her face.

"I know May I know," Peter replies hugging her, "We're doing all we can. She won't let us take this to the police and we both know there isn't enough evidence. Not yet anyway," Peter trails off looking extremely distraught. There sit in silence thoughts racing about Gabby's situation and any possible way they could help, but without her willing to go to the police out of fear there's nothing they can do.

"Anyway, Mr. Stark was wondering if he could come over?" Peter states as a question, "He says he hasn't seen you in a while and could do for a home cooked meal."

"You know our door is always open to the man who keeps you safe," May says happily as Gabby re enters the room with red rimmed eyes.

"What's going on?" She asks.

"Mr. Stark is coming over for dinner. Of course only if that's okay with you?" Peter says.

"Um," Gabby trails off looking a bit unsure, "I suppose."

"You sure about that Gabs?" Peter asks half joking.

"Yeah," she laughs softly, "I just haven't met many new people since my dad pulled me out of school."

"Oh," Peter says and they all sit there in silence no one knowing what to say. After about a minute of silence May says, "I'm going to check on something." She leaves the room and the two teens are left alone.

"So," Peter trails off.

"So," Gabby repeats.

"So?" Peter asks.

"So." She answers.

"What are we doing?" Peter asks as Gabby as they both start laughing.

"I don't know. You started it!" With that Peter laughs even harder.

"Hey do you remember when you said you found an old keyboard in some boxes that you think belonged to your Uncle?" Gabby asks.

"Yeah," Peter responds vaguely remembering said keyboard, "I'm pretty sure it's still lying around somewhere. Why? You gonna start playing piano?"

"Well, I found a bait shop by my house that said they'll pay me cash if I work for them as long as I don't tell anyone, because of labor laws obviously since I'm still only 15. I really want to start taking piano lessons and I figured I'd need something to practice on since my dad destroyed my mom's piano."

"Sure! I'll pull it out for you after dinner. I think May knows some notes and stuff that she could probably teach you."

"Really?" Gabby asks with her eyes shining, "That'd be great! I've been meaning to-"

She was cut off by a knock at the door. They both sat there looking at the other expantantly silently daring the other to answer the door.

"Fine," Gabby finally says, "I'm the guest, but I'll answer your door for you."

"It's the price of my friendship," Peter calls out to her as she goes to answer the door.

"Whatever bug-boy," Gabby laughs at his flabbergasted response as he quickly corrects her quipe at his superhero name. She swings open the door the door to reveal Tony Stark dressed in a nice suit complete with sunglasses.

"You're not Peter," he states.

"What an astute observation Mr. Stark. I guess there's a reason you became millionaire," Gabby says with no hesitation.

"Billionaire. I'm a billionaire," Tony replies, "It seems you know my name, but I don't know yours. Would you care to enlighten me?"

"Gabrielle Beckette, 15 and Peter's best friend since forever. Would you like to introduce yourself to me, or should I just look at a tabloid filled with lies about you?"

"So your not Peter's girlfriend or anything?"

"If I was a boy would you ask a similar question?" Gabby snaps back, but with little spite, "Please don't assume that straight is the default orientation Mr. Stark."

"I like you," Tony responds appreciating the bluntness of this girl, "And to introduce myself I'm Tony Stark. Coolest superhero, mentor, billionaire, playboy, scientist around."

"Nice to officially meet you. Now would you like to actually come in for dinner?"

"Yes," Tony responds with a smirk on his face and follows the spunky teen to the dinner table where Peter's already sitting down.

"Hi Mr. Stark!" Peter says excitedly, "I'm so glad you could come. So what was it exactly we needed to talk about? Can I experiment in your lab to find a better formula for my web shooters? Is it-"

"Kid!" Tony says looking concerned at the blonde female sitting at the table smiling at Peter's antics.

"What?" Peter says confused. He looks at Tony and then Gabby before finally realizing the problem, "Oh, it's okay Mr. Stark she was the first person who ever knew."

"Yeah," Gabby chimes in, "I know all about Peter's furry persona. I wouldn't have pegged him as a spider type, but-"

"Anyway," Peter cuts her off, "She's helped patch me up more times than I can remember and she helped me develop the formula for my web shooters. She's incredibly intelligent. Like really, really smart."

Gabby blushes slightly at the compliment, "I'm not that smart. I haven't had a science class in forever."

"Why does your school not teach science?" Stark asks appalled at the lack of discipline in the education system.

"Oh it's not like that. I'm not in school," Gabby says looking down as her hands.

Tony furrows his brows and his lips turn into a slight frown, "Aren't you too young to drop out?" he asks. She didn't strike him of the type to dropout and he doubts Peter would hang out with a slacker. He actually takes Peter's judgement of character to heart because when he says someone is really smart, they tend to be incredibly intelligent.

"My dad said it's a waste of money and time in addition to some other stuff. So he pulled me out and told me to get a job so I wouldn't waste my life, with you know, actually learning something that could help me get out of that shit hole house," Gabby's breath picks up a bit and Peter puts his hand on her shoulder while she tries to control her breathing and anger, "Sorry." Gabby says after calming down.

"No need to apologize Gabs," Peter reassures her.

"How would you like to be apart of the Stark internship?"


	2. Chapter 2: Family Game Night

Tony would admit that he didn't think too much before saying things. Which he why he has no clue what possessed him to ask this girl he just met if she wanted to be apart of an internship that doesn't actually exist. Maybe it was the sadness in her sky blue eyes that he often saw in his own. Maybe it was how Peter looked at her with complete adoration. Maybe it was him wanting to do a little bit of good for this girl. But if anyone ever asks him, he'd say he just wasn't thinking.

Gabby and Peter both looked at him shocked.  
"Um, Mr. Stark, Peter might have over exaggerated. I'm not smart. I haven't even had a basic high school education and besides a rage for social justice and occasional witty comebacks there's not much to me," Gabby rambles before Peter cuts her off.

"She's amazing Mr. Stark don't let her tell you otherwise," Peter continues to ramble over Gabby until Tony can't tell who's saying what.

"Okay kids," Tony stops them, "I can't hear you both when you talk over each other so please stop you're giving me a headache. Gabby my offer still stands and it sounds like you aren't doing much right now so you have a lot of free time on your hands. I'm giving you the opportunity to do something that would help people and learn. No science class can compare to you working alongside with me and Bruce Banner. Your dad wants you to get a job, now you have one. If you end up hating it, which I doubt you will, you're more than welcome to quit at anytime. What do you say to that?"

Gabby sits flabbergasted for a second before breaking out into a huge smile saying, "Thank you so much Mr. Stark. I'd love to be a Stark intern."

"Great Gabberoni! We'll figure out the details later!"

"Please don't call me that."

"No can do Gabberoni," Stark states with a grin, "The nickname comes with the job!"

"Sorry guys I just had to call my manager and- oh hello Tony," May says coming back into the kitchen.

"May guess what?" Peter says.

"What?"

"Gabby just got a job with the Stark internship!" Peter exclaims excitedly.

"Oh really," May says with her eyebrows raised looking at Tony skeptically, "Hey kids why don't you go play a game while Tony helps me make dinner."

"Battleship!" Gabby blurts out running to the living room.

"No! We already went over this Gabs!"

"So a job," May states once the kids are out of the room.

"Yeah, Peter says she's really smart and from what I could gather it seems like she needs a little help. This was the best thing I could do."

"You understand that I let you help Peter because I know he's going to go out as Spiderman no matter what and I'd rather have you watching over him, but Gabby, she's," May sighs trying to formulate her thoughts into comprehensive words, "She deserves better. I don't want her getting wrapped up in more drama so please don't get her involved in any superhero fights or criminal stuff. She has enough shit in her life and-"

"May, I promise that I'm just trying to help and I'll keep her out of danger. I just have a feeling that she's a good kid who needs a chance and a little bit of guidance."

"If anything happens to her I'm holding you responsible," Aunt May says warning him, "Dinner's ready!" She calls to the other room as she pulls the lasagna out of the oven.

Both of the kids come into the kitchen as May placed the lasagna, peas, and mashed potatoes on the table.

"Do lasagna and mashed potatoes go together May?" Peter asks.

"When you cook dinner you can judge," She remarks back.

"Well it looks absolutely delicious, thank you Mrs. May," Gabby says.

"God I haven't had a home cooked meal in forever!" Tony exclaims, "I'm assuming you're a much better cook than I am. If I ever cook you something do not eat it because there's a chance it's not completely cooked or has random science chemicals in it."

"Oh Aunt May, Gabby was wondering if she could play Uncle Ben's old keyboard. She's interested in learning piano. Do you remember where we put it?"

"I think it's gathering dust in some closet. If you want I know a few chords and basic notes. Not much, but enough to get you started. I could teach you on the piano?" May offers.

"That'd be great!" Gabby says.

"Actually I play piano," Tony adds. Everyone looks at him utterly confused and shocked that the billionaire and playboy Tony Stark knows how to play piano. "My mom taught me before she died. I'd be able to pull some old piano books out and maybe show you few things."

"That'd be really nice," Gabby says a little softer, "My mom used to play and I would fall asleep to her songs." Gabby smiles at the old memory of her mom. She still remembers how her mom would stroke her hair as she fell asleep and her moist, warm pancakes that she baked every Sunday to celebrate the beginning of the week.

"You know what we should do after dinner?" Peter exclaims breaking Gabby out of her thoughts of her mother.

"What?"

"We should play a game!"

"Yeah!" Gabby agrees, "It can be like a family game night! I think you guys have apples to apples, scattergories, and monopoly right?"

"I believe we have those," May says, "Once we finish you guys can clean up the dishes while I pull out the games."

"Mr. Stark are you going to stay to play some games?" Gabby asks sweetly.

"Fair warning though, Gabby is outrageously competitive," Peter warns Tony. Gabby simply shrugs.

"I'll play a few. You know just to prove that I'm the best," Tony remarks. Once everyone is finished with dinner Gabby and Peter clean up while making small talk with Tony at the same time May is pulling out various family games to play. After the kitchen is cleaned the three dinners head to the living room to pick out a game to play.

"So we have trivial pursuit, apples to apples, and scattergories. What do we want to play first?" May asks.

"I vote trivial pursuit, but I want Peter on my team!" Gabby states.

"I'm down with that," Peter comments eagerly.

"Okay, so it's trivial pursuit with Gabby and Peter against May and me. Just so you know you should prepare to lose now. I didn't become a genius without knowing a few trivia facts."

"Let's see how cocky you are when two 15 year olds put you to shame," Gabby snips at him, with with no venom in her voice.

"Yeah," Peter joins in, "What she said."

"How about we play the game then you can trash talk each other," May suggests.

"Sure."

"Okay," Gabby replies, "We'll just allow our natural intelligence to speak for itself!"

"Oh Mr. Stark," Peter says, "We play trivial pursuit in a slightly different manner since someone always knew the answer to every question. Instead of taking turns May just keep reading the questions and whoever answers first gets a point. The game's over whenever one team or person is winning by 10 points or Aunt May gets tired of our bickering."

"Wait, but I'm by myself then?" Tony asks confused.

"Yeah, but if you want Mr. Stark, you can have May back and Peter can read the questions if you think you can't beat two teenagers," Gabby suggests.

"I'm a genius, let's hear the first question," Tony replies. Tony's is secretly hoping he can gauge just how smart this new girl is so since she's now a Stark Intern who's going to be working with him.

"Okay everyone, first question," May starts preparing to read the first question, "What is painter and sculptor Michelangelo's full name?"

"Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni," Gabby responds immediately.

"That sounds made up," Stark tries to defend his lack of a fast answer.

"Correct!" Aunt May tells the group.

"Next question What is the world's biggest spider?"

"Goliath birdeater tarantula," Peter responds.

"Wrong the world's biggest spider go by the name of Peter Parker," Gabby supplies with a huge smug grin on her face.

"Peter's correct," May says.

"I think I should get bonus points for creativity though," Gabby complains.

"Stop complaining Gabberoni, you both already have two points," Tony snipes back.

"Aw are you going to let two teenagers take down your ego a few pegs?" Gabby asks sweetly with an evil grin on her face.

"I'm just warming up," he tries to defend his pride, "I'm letting you guys get cocky before I take you down."

"We'll see," Gabby says softly with a cheshire cat grin gracing her face.

"Okay, next question." This continues for a while until the score is Peter and Gabby with 15 points and Tony with 8 points.

"I still think this game is rigged," Tony complains.

"Or we're just smarter than you," Gabby states with a bright smile plastered on her face.

"Okay I'm done reading questions guys," May says, "It's getting pretty late."

"Oh my God, what time is it?" Gabby exclaims.

"It's 9:52," Peter says looking at his phone for the time.

"Shot, I'm almost late for curfew," Gabby says quietly with a slight frown, "Oh well I should probably head out then!"

"Can I walk you home?" Peter asks wanting to spend just a little more time with Gabby, "You know we won't let you go alone this late at night."

"Sure Petey. You know I'd never say no to spending more time with you!"

"So Gabby, how busy are you tomorrow?" She looks at Tony confused for a minute, "For your internship?"

Realization came across her face, "Oh yeah! I already forgot," she says with a slight laugh, "I'm pretty much free to do whatever I want as long as I'm home by 10:00, which I guess won't be happening tonight."

"Can you come over around 10:00 in the morning? I typically don't wake up before then, but I could make an exception," Tony says.

"Sure. Where exactly though?"

"The Avengers Compound. I can send a car to pick you up because it doesn't really have an address."

"I'm not sure you want to send a car to my house," Gabby laughs bitterly, "My neighborhood isn't kind to people who actually have money. I only let Peter come because May and him don't trust me alone at night. If you want I can meet your driver or whatever somewhere else though? Maybe Central Park?"

"That would probably work. I have an 'old' friend that goes for runs around there I can have him pick you up," Tony smiles at his own pun about the old soldier. Even since their huge fight they both sat down together and figured everything out and even though they still don't see eye-to-eye on everything, they both have each other's backs and Tony would never admit it outloud, but he considers Steve to be a good friend.

"Do you have a phone or anything so he can call you?" Tony asks,

"No," she answers simply, "But I'll be finishing my morning run and sitting on one of the benches by the big fountain."

"Perfect, he'll just keep asking random people around Central Park if they're you until he finds you," Tony responds, "I'll head home and see you tomorrow Gabberoni."

"See ya later Mr. Stark!" Gabby and Peter say in unison.

"Let's get you home now Gabs," Peter tells her as she puts her shoes on.

"Bye Mrs. May see you later!" Gabby shouts.

"Bye May love you!" Peter says as the two teens head out the door.


	3. Chapter 3

Peter and Gabby walk in silence for about 10 minutes simply enjoying the crisp night air and each others company.

"I met this girl at the coffee shop a few blocks from your house," Gabby says, "She's pretty cute."

"Oh, what's her name?" Peter says attempting to hide his slight disappointment. His disappointment isn't about her sexuality, but rather that he's desperately fighting some feelings he has for her where he wants to be a little more than just friends. She came out as bi to him about a year ago. Nothing elaborate, they were just sitting in his room and she told him, "I'm bisexual." he responded, "Cool." and that was the end of it.

"Her name's Valerie," Gabby says with a small smile gracing her face, "We talked for a bit and she seems pretty cool."

"Nice."

"Yeah."

They both continue walking in a comfortable silence neither wanting to interrupt the noisy silence filling the night. They both jump at the sound of glass breaking and people shouting in a nearby house. Peter grabs Gabby's arm and pushes her slightly behind him. They both stand there for a second with bated breath waiting to hear anything else, but the shouting dies down quickly and they both attempt to calm their breathing.

"It's okay," Peter says, "Just some rowdy neighbors," he tries to reassure her noticing her wide eyes and fast paced breathing, "You good Gabs?" he asks concerned.

"Totally," she says calming down slightly, "Like you said, just some rowdy neighbors," she flashed him a small pained smile.

They walk in tense silence until they reach Gabby's house.

"Thanks for walking me home Petey," She tells him softly.

"Anytime Gabrielle," he responds, "You should totally come over tomorrow and tell me how your first day as an intern was!"

"I'll try, but you know I try to make my visits spontaneous so you never expect them."

"That would work if you didn't come over almost everyday day."

"Yeah, but-" she was cut off by the front door slamming open and an angry voice yelling, "Get your ass in this house. You're late."

"Sorry sir," Peter tries to defend, "It's my fault."

"Last I checked my daughter knows how to read a damn clock."

"Sorry," Gabby says no trace of her previous smile on her face, "Bye Peter, see you-"

"Now!" He shouts.

She offers him a small apologetic smile as she rushes to get inside before suffering her father's wrath.

Peter watches he run to her father who grabs her arm harshly and whispers something in her ear while she flinches away slightly before sparring one more apologetic looks to Peter and going inside her house. He truly wishes he could do something, but fear of her father taking his anger out on her if he tries something leaves him feeling helpless and clueless on what to do except keep being her friend and support system. He reluctantly walks away trying to think of a better way to help his best friend.

"Hey Steve," Tony says after spotting him in the Avengers Compound late at night after driving back from dinner with Peter, May, and Gabby, "Can you pick up someone for me tomorrow?"

"Who?"

"A girl."

"Oh God Tony," Steve sighs, "I thought you were done with that life."

"Wow Steve. I'm appalled that you think I'd stoop that low," Tony pauses to think for a second, "Again." Steve laughs a little. "It's a girl who I'm employing as an intern to help make you all some new tech."

"What?" Steve asks confused, "Do you know her? Also I didn't know you had an internship?"

"Somewhat," Tony replies flippantly, "I met her a few hours ago, so I'd say so. Also no I don't technically have an internship."

"So you hired a stranger to work at the secret Avengers Compound for an internship that doesn't exist?" Steve asks.

"Yep. Sounds about right," Tony replies neutrally, "So can you pick her up and bring her to the Compound?"

"You're going to give me a little more information before I bring this girl to where all the Avengers live and train Tony."

"She's Peter's best friend and really intelligent. She's in a really rough spot right now and needs some help. From what I can gather her dad is even more of a bastard than mine was. He forced her to quit school and is a terrible person from what I could gather. Peter told me he trusts her and I just think she needs a little help and an opportunity to do more," Tony sits in silence with many thoughts of how this girl reminds him of himself in so many way until Steve says, "Where should I pick her up?"

"She said she'd be on one of the benches in front of the big water fountain in Central Park."

"Okay, what time?"

"Around 10:00. She has somewhat frizzy bright blonde hair, blue eyes, extremely pale skin, and she's tall."

"Sounds good. Sorry for being skeptical about this, what you're doing is really good and I hope it works out."

"It's fine. You'll like her, she's witty and has some spunk to her."

"Okay then," Steve starts to walk away, but then asks, "What's her name?"

"Gabby."

"Are you Gabby?" Steve asks to a young teenager with a loose, blonde side braid sitting on a bench by the fountain in Central Park the next day.

"Depends," she responds, "Who's asking?"

"Tony's friend," Steve answers.

"That doesn't tell me much. Would you like to try introducing yourself with your name?"

Steve is taken back for a moment before he smiles and reintroduces himself, "Steve Rodgers ma'am."

Gabby smiles sweetly at him, "Gabrielle Beckette, but you can call me Gabby, sir" she slightly mocks him with her last last word, "Nice to meet you."

"Same to you. So you ready to go?"

"Sure," she replies. Gabby follows Steve to his car, "Fingers crossed you're not secretly a serial killer," she jokes as she gets in the passenger side of his car.

"I guess you'll never know," he jokes along with her, "So tell me about yourself?"

"Okay, you already know, but my name's Gabby. I love dogs, science, math, and music. Oh! I also love ice cream, Peter and I sometimes go to this ice cream store by his house where I get chocolate ice cream, with fudge, chocolate syrup, brownies, and hershey bar chunks in it."

"I'm guessing you also like chocolate then," Steve says chucking softly.

"Yeah, I guess," she says also laughing, "So now it's only fair if you tell me about yourself. Specifically," she pauses looking serious before saying, "Your favorite flavor of ice cream."

"Okay then, first off favorite flavor is vanilla," Steve watches as Gabby makes a horrified face at her choice of ice cream, "Don't hate it's a classic!"

"Classically boring, but please continue."

"So vanilla, I also really like dogs and music. Science and math were never really my thing. I enjoy baking and I suck at understanding complex technology," Steve pauses to think before adding on, "Some people may say I'm a little out of my time."

"Cool. So how far away is this place?"

"Get comfortable because it's about a two hour drive."

"Ugh!" Gabby complains, "I hope you like playing car games!"

After two hours of mindless, easy conversations and random car games to help pass the time they make it to the Avengers Compound. Gabby's laughing at Steve's stories of one of his double-dates with Bucky that went so terribly his date left him halfway for a hot biker girl in the diner they were in.

"Sounds like the old man didn't bore you to death yet," Tony comments.

"No, his ultimate dating fails are hilarious! Please tell me more sometime," Gabby begs.

"Sure," Steve says smiling at the young girls antics. He now understands why Tony took such a liking to her. Her bright yet witty personality lights up the room and makes you feel special just by talking to her. He smiles at her and reminds himself to think of some more terrible dates to share later, "Well I've got to go work out so I'll let you both get to the interning stuff. Nice meeting you Gabby."

"You too!" She calls after him, "So what are we doing today?"

"First I'm going to introduce you to Brucey then we'll head to the lab and wing it. FRIDAY where's Bruce?"

"Mr. Banner is currently reading a book in the common area with Wanda."

"Perfect let's head up and introduce you to some more people," Tony leads her into the elevator.

They stand there in an awkward silence as the elevator takes forever to bring them up one floor. Not soon enough, the doors open to reveal a sleek room with a living room and a kitchen with Wanda and Bruce sitting on the couch and chair in the living room. Wanda is watching some random Hallmark movie while Bruce is reading a book silently.

"Brucey!" Tony calls out, "I have a new scientist for you to meet."

"Hi Mr. Banner," Gabby says holding her hand out for Bruce to shake, "My name's Gabby and I'm not a scientist."

"Nice to meet you," he replies shaking her hand, "and you can just call me Bruce. So Tony tells me you're interested in science, any particular field?"

"Well I've never liked chemistry, but biology, engineering, and physics seem really cool from what I can tell. I've read some books from the library about them."

"Biology and engineering are both really fun, but Tony would know more about physics than I would."

"So Brucey," Tony cuts in, "I figured we'd show her around the lab and start explaining some sciency stuff and just see what she picks up."

"Yeah," Bruce says thinking a bit, "I could show her some of the stuff we're working on right now."

"Sounds like fun!" Gabby replies excited to be learning from some of the most brilliant minds in the world.

"Alrighty then let's start your first day as an official Stark Intern!"


	4. Chapter 4

"So what'd you think?" Tony asks as they step off the elevator into the main lab for tinkering with projects.

Gabby stares stunned for a few seconds simply taking everything in. Her mouth hangs open before closing like a fish gasping for water.

"Don't have a stroke on me now Gabberoni, say something for proof of life."

"Holy shit!" Gabby exclaims, "Oh sorry," she continues slightly quieter.

"Don't apologize for language, we've both heard it all before," Bruce says calmly.

"Or we've heard much worse!" Tony adds.

"This is huge! There's ….. everything! " Gabby continues blabbering in awe of the mainlab Tony and Bruce share.

"Feel free to become familiar with the lab for a bit," Bruce tells her.

"Run around, have a blast, and don't get hurt!" Tony lets her know as Gabby walks briskly around the lab with large analytical eyes.

"So, an intern?" Bruce asks Tony once Gabby's left, "When'd this start?"

"Yesterday," Tony responds flippantly. "She needed a decent job and education. I figured between you and me and all of this stuff she can learn quite a bit." _and build a support system along the way_ Tony thinks to himself.

"Okay…" Bruce says warily.

"Trust me Brucie. Please?"

"When don't I trust you?"

Instead of answering both men turn to look at Gabby who's still talking to herself analyzing different projects lying around. One thing that surprised Tony is that Gabby still has yet to even look at any of the iron man suit pieces anywhere in the room. Instead she seems more interested in a water cooling experiment Tony was working on for clean energy in other countries without electricity, but possibility using a nearby water source to power air conditioning. She's staring intently at one of Bruce's experiments at the moment and he walks over to her to explain something when her brows furrowed together.

Tony watches as Bruce walks over and she jumps when she notices him, but quickly recomposes herself and engages in an animated conversation with the scientist. Tony smiles slightly to himself as he watches the two interact geeking out over biochemistry. He knew Bruce would be a good person for her to meet because his calm spirit makes those around him feel incredibly comfortable, once you look past the possibility of him turning into a giant, green, rage monster. After a few moments Gabby looks up at Tony with a bright smile highlighting her dimples, with a few strands of blonde hair falling out of her braid into her face. Tony smiled back at her and moved around to work on one of his projects. His mind kept wandering as he worked on Peter's suit being upgraded with new protocols to alert Tony whenever anything was out of place as well as being more durable and protective of Peter. After a while of being unproductive he finally gave up on focusing on his project and looked back to see Gabby and Bruce's conversation slightly less animated and now Gabby was watching Bruce work with critical eyes carefully following his every move.

Gabby looked at Tony as he pushed his chair back and arched his back putting his hands over his face. Her stomach clenched slightly due to its emptiness and growled loudly. Tony snapped his head to look at her and smiled slightly at her cheeks turning red.

"I guess you're saying it's time for a food break?" He teased her as she shrugged.

"Alright, Brucie you coming up with us?"

"No thanks, but could you bring me down some coffee and fruit?"

"No problem big guy! Let's go Gabberoni!"

Gabby follows him back onto the elevator finally realizing how tired and hungry she really was. She leaned her back against the wall and rested her eyes momentarily waiting for the elevator ride to finish.

"Tired?"

"Yep." She answered not even attempting to hide her current physical and mental state.

"Let's hope Clint or Steve is in the kitchen. They can always make something good!"

"Who's Clint?"

"The weird bird dude with bows and arrows. Not to be confused with the weird bird dude with wings who can fly. That's Sam, but he doesn't come over too often so you probably won't meet him for a while."

They both walk out into the common area and start heading to kitchen for some food. When Gabby starts asking for clarification on each hero and their persona.

"So Steve's Captain America."

"Capsticle, yes."

"Bruce is Hulk."

"Hard to believe I know."

"Clint is Hawkeye. Sam is Falcon I think?"

"Yep our two resident birds."

"Anyone else I'm missing?"

"Just the best superhero ever!"

"Oh right! How could I forget!" Gabby exclaimed, "Peter's Spiderman."

Tony's face falls in mock sadness, "That's it you're banished."

"Whatever tin man."

"It's Iron Man!" He raises his voice slightly and doesn't notice Gabby's slight flinch at his raised voice.

"Sorry," she responds timidly all fight and amusement immediately forgotten in her mind. Tony instantly picks up on this and backtracks.

"Hey Gabberoni, no need to ever apologize to me, okay?" He lowers his voice considerably. "It takes a lot to get me mad. I was just joking around."

She shakes her head acknowledging his statements, but refuses to look him in the eye disappointed in herself for allowing her fear to show around him after only one day.

"I'm gonna need a verbal acknowledgment Gabs," he tells her softly instantly regretting raising his voice at all.

"Yes sir," Tony's lips draw down and his brow furrows at that reponse.

"Just to be clear, you can call me whatever you want, but not sir? 'K?"

"Yes, Mr. Stark." Gabby says raising her eyes to meet his slightly.

"What is with you kids calling me Mr. Stark all the time?" He remarks in a playful, but quiet manner.

"It's something called respect, Tony," a voice yells from the kitchen. The two turn the corner to find a Clint sitting on the kitchen counter wearing ripped jeans and a plain dark blue tee-shirt.

"Which I'm sure you know all about birdbrain."

"Absolutely. Get off my counter! We eat there!"

Gabby laughs slightly and meets Clint's eyes.

"Gabby," she says.

"Clint," he replies getting off the counter, "You here to watch the master chef in this house cook?"

"I'm here to eat!" She responds, "I don't care who cooks as long as the food isn't burnt."

"Standards are set low for you Katniss."

"Duly noted. How does grilled cheese sound?"

"Awesome!" Gabby tells him honestly, "Do you have a bathroom in here somewhere?"

"Yeah, down the hall that way," Tony responds pointing to a hallway, "Second door on your left."

"Thanks," She replies walking towards the bathroom.

"So what's her story Stark? Usually I'm the one known for taking in strays."

"She's not a stray," Tony snaps at him.

"No need to get defensive. I'm just asking."

They fall into a thick silence with Tony's stubbornness prohibiting him from breaking the silence first.

"I heard what happened on your way from the elevator," Clint tells him in a softer voice now, "I'm not stupid. I can see signs of emotional abuse from a mile away. Just want to know if there's anything I can do to help."

"It's not my story to tell," Tony trails off, "But you can make a damn good grilled cheese sandwich."

"Will do!"

With that Clint moves around the kitchen gathering the different ingredients and starting the stove to make grilled cheese. Gabby comes back into the kitchen and asks, "So how long is this going to take to make?"

"Just about three minutes," Clint responds buttering the cheese to prepare to put on the stove.

"Oh! I almost forgot I have something for you Gabby!" Tony exclaimed randomly jumping out of the stool he was sitting in, "I left it in the lab. I'll be right back!" With that he runs off heading towards the elevator.

"That was random," Gabby comments.

"Yeah he can be like that most times."

"My mom used to make grilled cheese a lot," Gabby states quietly.

"I guess I have some high standards to live up to then!" Clint jokes.

Clint finishes the grilled cheese sandwiches up and puts them on a plate with a bit of seasoning on top.

"M'lady," he says regally as he gives Gabby her plate. She takes a giant bite of her sandwich finally realizing how hungry she was noticing the clock that read 3:47.

"Damn," she groans, "This is hella good."

"Rating?"

"11/10. Can you make every meal for me?" Clint laughs at her response to his food.

"I'm not kidding this is so good. Imma eat Tony's if he doesn't hurry up."

After finishing about 3 ½ sandwiches Gabby and Clint hear the elevator ding to signal Tony coming back up holding a little silver box in his hand.

"Here ya go Gabberoni!"

Gabby takes the box from him and opens it to reveal a shiny Stark phone.

"Whoa," She trails off looking at it, "I don't… like… I can't have... "

"Don't mention it! I had fun programming it to do all kinds of cool things."

"How am I supposed to explain this to my dad?"

"Tell him it's required for your new job."

"Yeah, no. He's not finding out about this at least until I'm 18. I guess I could hide it."

"We're not going to force you to take it," Clint cuts into the conversation, "If you can't have it for any reason you can leave it here."

"Yeah, no pressure. It's just a really cool phone," Tony interjects.

"I'm sure he won't notice it. Thank you!" Gabby tells him, "I really, really appreciate it. This is really nice!"

"No problem kid."

The three continue to eat with the only the noises of them chewing and swallowing their water breaking up the silence. Once they all finish Gabby collects the plates and washes them in the sink, dries them, then leaves the plates on the counter.

"So birdbrain you want to join us for the tour of the facility?"

"I'm going to find Nat, but I'll probably meet up with you guys once you make it to the range."

"Sounds good. Less annoying commentary."

"Bye Clint," Gabby yells after him as he walks away. He waves to her before finally leaving the duo.

"Okay, so you already saw the main lab, but there's at least 7 more scattered around the facility. You can probably just hang in the main one with Brucie and I, but I can show you the others if you really want," Tony tells her while walking down the hall pointing out various bathrooms and common room areas along the way, "Usually Nat, Clint, and Steve are here whenever they aren't on a mission. Steve's here more often because he's technically not an agent. Bruce, Wanda, and Vision are here most of the time and of course Peter is here on most weekends. Also obviously I'm here almost 24/7 and Sam is here on occasion, but he actually has his own house he's not here as often..."

Gabby nods while only mildly absorbing the information. Her eyes were continually drooping and there were shorter periods between each of her yawns. Tony stops in the middle of his tour rant and notices her eyelids drooping lower and lower.

"You tired?"

"M'm," she affirms.

"I have a spare bedroom somewhere around here if you wanna take a short nap before we finish your first day."

"I'm good," She slurs softly.

"Nah, look at where we are! A spare bedroom with a comfy bed for a nap."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely. I'll come back in a bit and we can finish touring my wonderful facility."

"Thank you," Gabby says before flopping on the bed as Tony turns off the lights and leaves Gabby to take a nap.

 **So sorry it's been so long! I'm starting to fall back in love with writing again, so hopefully updates will be more frequent!**


	5. Chapter 5

Tony leaves Gabby to sleep, to get on the elevator to go down to his lab. As he walks in he tells Jarvis, "Pull me up all information on Gabrielle Beckette."

Bruce looked up at him with that announcement.

"Right away sir," Jarvis responds.

"What's going on Tony?" Bruce asks, "Not that I don't mind another science buddy, but I feel like there's something more."

Tony pauses for a second while Jarvis pulls up 5 different articles.

"This it Jar?" He asks confused as to the lack of paperwork.

"All public records."

"Look into close family members and government documents."

"Tony," Bruce pleads with him. Tony pauses considering the different possibilities. He didn't tell Clint, but that was partly because he thinks Clint could fill in the blanks pretty well. This was Bruce. The Avenger he was closest with and trusted the most with everything. If there was anyone who he could tell what was going on it would be him.

"She's," Tony begins, "she's not in a good home right now. Her mother died somehow and she's left with a negligent dad who drinks too much. From what it looks and sounds like I think her dad is at least emotionally abusive. I'm sure it's worse then what she'd tell someone she just meet."

There's a moment of silence as Bruce comprehends what Tony just said with his lips pulled together tightly and brows furrowed as he takes his glasses off to put them on the desk next to him and rubs his head breathing deeply. Tony watches as Jarvis pulls up more articles about the Beckette family. First he examines three birth certificates. Dean William Beckette. Amelia Rose Beckette. Gabrielle Rose Beckette. Then he sees an enrollment form for preschool, elementary school, and middle school up to 8th grade then the enrollment forms stop never indicating a high school education. There was quite a few notes of concern from the school towards the second half of 8th grade. A couple mentioned physical fights which surprised Tony a bit. After those there were more notes from the school counseling. He hesitated only for a second before opening and reading the notes. Bruce came up behind him to read the documents.

"Damn," Bruce says reading the notes.

"Yeah," Tony replies with a tight voice reading the counseling notes, "That's one word for it."

Skimming the notes they all had a common theme; each counselor noticed alarming sign of emotional abuse and neglect. The most concerning was in two notes where they noticed physical signs of abuse. Neither counselor called it abuse because they say Gabrielle denied any claims of abuse instead saying she dropped a plate or fell.

The last document was a small news article about Amelia Beckette. Died in a car crash driving her daughter, Gabrielle, home from school on November 7th 2017. They both survived the impact and were taken to the hospital. Amelia was operated on and Gabrielle got away with minor scratches and a concussion. They both went home and Amelia died one day after being released due to medical malpractice. There was a malpractice lawsuit that was over almost as soon as it began.

Tony decides to try to work on another experiment while Bruce continues reading all the information about Gabby and her family.

"So what are we going to do?" Bruce asks suddenly.

"What?" Tony replies with his brows furrowing together in confusion.

"About Gabby. Her situation and all that."

"I don't know," Tony admits.

"You told me you had some vague idea this was going on when you invited her here so you have to have some sort of plan right?" Bruce tells him slightly exasperated.

"This isn't my area of expertise Bruce. I thought I could do something to help her or give her a chance to do… I don't know something! That's really as far as I've thought."

They both sit in silence for a second before Bruce asks, "You could send her to a real school?"

Tony's head shoots up suddenly.

"I'm just thinking," Bruce continues, "Being around people her own age and earning a high school education can open doors to college and more jobs in the future. Logically besides paying for more therapy, sending her to school seems like the next best option."

"How would we send her without her dad noticing?"

"We live with a bunch of spies. I'm sure one of us would be willing to pretend to be her parents."

"Transportation?"

"We could move back to Avengers Tower. I prefer the view there anyway."

"What school?"

This question causes Bruce to hesitate not exactly having an answer. Before he needs one Tony answers his own question.

"Peter's school! Peter told me he goes to a high end nerdy school. Then she'll have someone she already knows at school."

Tony jumps out of his chair excited to get this plan rolling.

"Jarvis pull me up all information on enrollment at Midtown High School."

"Tony hold up," Bruce tells him, "We need to talk to Gabby first."

"Right."

"I love the idea, but we can't pressure her into it at all, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, no pressuring and what not." Tony answers flippantly.

A floor above the lab Gabby is just waking up after her nap. She stretches out along the soft sheets and wraps herself in the fuzzy, striped blanket closing her eyes and taking a deep breathe in then releasing it. She lies there for a few more minutes before opening her eyes blinking them slowly to allow to sleep to leave her eyes. Waiting a few more moments, she then gets up and rolls out of bed in order to find Tony. She considers asking Jarvis for a second, but feeling strange talking to a ceiling she decides to walk around and hope to find someone familiar who can point her in the right direction. She hesitates for only a moment with anxiety in her chest for fear Tony would be mad at her, but she reassures herself that he seems chill and won't get angry.

She opens the door softly and begins walking in a direction. She notices how all the doors look fairly similar and while she's walking she hears a thud. Curious she wanders towards the noise, various other thuds and hits getting louder as she draws closer. Finally she finds herself in a training area of sorts. Fit with multiple punching bags, any exercise equipment one can want, a boxing ring, some gymnastics equipment, a climbing wall, and a shooting range.

She finds the source of the sounds with a woman with fiery short hair fighting with Steve. She also spots Clint shooting a bow and arrow at moving targets seeming to hit the target every time.

"You're slacking punk," a dark haired man with a silver arm calls out as Natasha eventually pins Steve down.

"I'm warming up," Steve responds getting up.

"After 1 hour of exercising?"

"Shut up Clint," Steve yells at the archer.

Gabby laughs slightly at the exchange which causes the mystery man to snap his head towards her with an intense glare, effectively cutting off her laugh. She freezes with a rock of dread sitting in her stomach and throat tensing rendering her unable to speak. The man continues to glare for what seems like hours, which in reality was probably seconds until Steve speaks up.

"Hey Gabby! What're you doing down here?"

Gabby simply shrugs her shoulders with her stomach still completely clenched with fear while staring at the other man still staring at her. Clint walks over towards her and notices her fear and Bucky's untrusting glare. So Clint hits his shoulder and says, "This is Bucky. He's a lot less scary once you get to know him."

Natasha walks up to her to introduce herself with cool guarded eyes.

"Natasha," she says holding her hand out. This seems to break Gabby from whatever trance she was in as she puts her hand in Natasha's and shakes it gently.

"Gabby."

"So what are you doing down here Gabs?" Clint asks once the ice has been broken with introductions.

"I dunno," she answers honestly, "Tony was giving me a tour, but then I got tired and took a nap. I also didn't feel like asking the ceiling where he was so I figured I'd wander around. Is that okay? Did I do something wrong? Sorry." She rushes out anxiously.

"You're good to wander!" Clint reponds, "You can hang out with us a bit if you want?"

"Sure. I guess?" Gabby asks unsure of herself.

"Come on," Steve coaxes her gently, "I can teach you how to throw a decent punch."

With that Gabby follows him over to the punching bags still slightly cautious, but just a little more comfortable being introduced to the other members of the Avengers facility; even if Bucky still scares her a bit.

 **Please review! Have a great day!**


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